Root Beer Reviews – Page 88 – Eric’s Gourmet Root Beer Blog

Dr. Brown’s Root Beer

Dec 302015

Dr. Brown's Root Beer Bottle Shortly after I started my undergrad at the University of Washington, before my mission and the transfer to BYU, I was in a QFC (Quality Food Center) to buy some groceries with some friends from my dorm. I of course went searching for root beer and found these little bottles of in the ethnic foods section, you know, because it’s Jewish and that’s ethnic evidently or at least it was in the year 2000, even though root beer is America’s Beverage. Also, what strange little stubby glass bottles, they’re only 10 ounces and have plastic caps from two liter bottles. Also the label says it’s “Blended for Full-Bodied Flavors”.The brand itself is from New York (so ethnic) and is one of several flavors that Dr. Brown’s (such a Jewish name) makes. It’s Kosher and has no sodium. They also make a celery soda which sounds frightening but I hear it goes well with deli sandwiches.

The Body is sweet but is not full. The overall flavor is wonderful but incomplete. The Head is weak. The Bite is ok but the Aftertaste actually leaves you quite disappointed.

So this isn’t really that stellar, but also not bad. I’ll put it at a solid Drinkable, as it’s probably good with that New York Jewish food or something like that. If I’m ever in a New York deli, in New York, New York, I’ll have to try it with my pastrami on rye to see how well they mix. See how it rates against other root beers.

Harpoon Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Dec 232015

Harpoon Root Beer Bottle One day as I’m checking my special, root beer email account, I get a message out of nowhere from a fellow named Jake, asking me if I wanted to try Harpoon Root Beer from the Harpoon Brewery and he could send me a sample if I did. Now this is what I need more of in my inbox, every single day. It’s pretty much the litmus test on whether or not it’s a great day. “Have you received an unsolicited offer to sample gourmet root beer today?” “Yes? Then today is a GREAT day!” Sadly, when I got said root beer, the seals on the bottles had broken. That put me in the awkward position of having to send them an email saying that while their root beer smelled really good I couldn’t actually drink it because it broke in transit and could they please send me some more. Luckily, they were good natured sorts so they sent me some more. This time the brews were intact.

The Body is rich and creamy, full of all the essential flavors. It has got so much of them that it is a little syrupy, but I like that. You can taste the lack of preservatives. The body is accompanied by a mild Bite that just tingles the tongue a bit. The Head is weak, sadly, but frothy and doesn’t just fizz away. The Aftertaste is creamy and rich as well but doesn’t linger too long.

This is one of the best root beers I have ever tasted, but the lack of an amazing head kept this one out of the highest echelon. Sadly, they’ve since stopped making it for reasons unknown which is a real shame. A brew like this will be sorely missed. See how it rates against other root beers.

Round Barn Root Beer

Bottled Root Beers No Responses »

Dec 162015

Round Barn Root Beer Bottle In the tiny town of Arcadia, OK, on Route 66, there exists a place called Pops. There, on the iconic route, they’ve got it all; a restaurant, a landmark, a soda ranch, and a website that actually works. Their soda ranch boasts over 600 flavors, a good 1/6 of that coming from various root beers, birch beers, sarsaparillas, and associated diets. Very impressive. Not wanting to stop there, they decided to get their own flavor of root beer and contracted with the Huebert Brewing Company to make it for them. They decided to buck the whole Route 66 trend and instead named their root beer after some round barn. The picture is on the bottle and everything. In a town of less than 300 people, I can accept that a big ol’ round barn may just be defining feature of the place. The Wikipedia article on Arcadia confirms this as it has exactly one photo in it which is nearly identical to the label picture, same angle and everything. Curiously, the article doesn’t mention anything about said round barn, so maybe it’s just for looks or something.

The Body is rather bland. It’s really REALLY sweet and syrupy but only a medium flavor profile. It’s a tad creamy with the slightest shadow of wintergreen, but you really have to look hard. There’s also a fruity hint. There is the slightest spice Bite but not much in the carbonation department. That all fizzes up to build a very nice Head that’s tall and lingers awhile, though it’s not a high froth Head. The Aftertaste is sticky corn syrup that turns bitter.

So about a week before I tried this I got an email from someone claiming my review of Henry Weinhard’s was wrong because it uses HFCS and that tastes inferior to sugar and as the primary ingredient it would have the most pronounced flavor. I responded that the sugar doesn’t make the brew and other ingredients can have much stronger flavors. This brew, however, fits exactly what he was getting at. It has a very high 47g of HFCS and that is by far the dominant flavor. Really this tastes like moderately flavored corn syrup drink, like if you watered down some Aunt Jemima. I’m not a big fan. See how it rates against other root beers.

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